Voile Academy - Patchouli: The Beginnings
by FantasySpark
Summary: Touhou and School Life? Turns out it's not impossible! So now here we have the beginning of Voile Academy, as told by our asthmatic magician and first-year, Patchouli Knowledge herself.


**Well, I wrote a little series on School Life in Gensou (I mean, Wynaut?). This was originally made for a friend who didn't know what Touhou was, so expect plenty of explanations in this. I would have given it a better name, but I named it Voile because originally the whole series was supposed to be told in Patchouli's Point of View. (That didn't result in the end.)**

* * *

Today I woke up as usual. But something was different. Today was the day I was to start attending a school called Voile Academy. I want to attend to study magic, but mostly because of the massive library I heard about. My goal is to read every book in that library. So I dressed myself, skipped breakfast, stuffed my bag full of books, and then headed out the door with my favorite book in hand. I waved goodbye to my small, run-down, and deserted home. I would miss the comfort of reading books on my own bed. But I still continued down the narrow road to the train stop where the Voile Train would be. By time I got there, I finished my book so I took time to look around.

It was quite hectic. There were youkai everywhere, but that was to be expected. I spotted a kappa testing out inventions and an ice fairy who kept going on about how she was the strongest. Another youkai was lazily hanging out of a gap next to a kitsune and a nekomata. A girl wearing green and equipped with two swords was trying her best to calm down a pink-haired girl who said she was getting hungry. The girl in green was rather interesting, for a large phantom accompanied her. She could have possibly been a half-breed. Then finally I spotted two vampires that looked like sisters. The younger looking one was running around everywhere and wreaking havoc, while the older looking one was much more mature and was having a conversation with a human. The silver-haired human stood quietly, listening to the vampire's every word and nodding in agreement while she fumbled around with an old stopwatch in her hands. There were other humans as well. A human witch in a white and black dress flew around excitedly on a broomstick, while an annoyed red and white shrine maiden followed after her. Just when I thought I had spotted another human, her aura definitely read youkai. She had a book in her hand and was accompanied by a floating doll which most likely was her creation. The book had a strong sense of magic coming from it, which no one else seemed to notice. But it wasn't just a magic spell book. It had to be a Grimoire. Such power should be handled carefully, yet she didn't seem to mind that at all. I think I want to learn a bit more about that powerful grimoire...

The train whistle blew and everyone started to board. I got on last and found the most comfortable, cozy, and distant spot on the train. It wasn't very far away though. Ignoring the loud bunch nearby, I began to read another book when a figure walked up to me. I looked up and saw it was a girl with long red hair. She had a pair of big black wings on her back and smaller ones on her head, along with pointed ears and red eyes. Her black, pointed tail quickly lashed back and forth. She must be a devil.

"Hello!" she said with a bright cheerful smile. She caught me off guard. Usually I'm not greeted that way. I never step foot outside of my home in the first place.

"H-hello." I muttered back.

"May I sit with you?" I moved over a little bit and she sat down. She was so close to me, but was rather short. We sat together for a while until she finally spoke again.

"Oh! I almost forgot! My name is Koakuma."

"I'm Patchouli. Patchouli Knowledge."

"It's Patchouli? I like the name! So why did you come to Voile Academy? I came so I can learn to become a proper devil!" So I was right after all. She is a devil.

"I came to learn and study magic. Also, to read all the books in the library." I quickly explained.

"All the books in the library? I can see that." Koakuma peered over at my book and giggled. "Wait, so that means you're a magician!? So cool! Do you know any magic right now?" Koakuma had a glimmer in her eyes that I just could never turn down no matter how hard I tried.

"I do know magic at this point and time. I would wish to demonstrate but I am afraid I might cause damage to this part of the train." I answered, hoping I wouldn't disappoint the little devil.

"Aww, that's too bad. But I do understand! So maybe you can show me at the academy!"

"Yes. That will be a good time."

"Now that we know each other… can we be friends?" Friends? Oh yes, I know what that is. It's when you have someone to enjoy the passing of time with. Koakuma seems nice. Maybe I can try this "friend" thing out…

"Yes. We can be friends." I answered as I tried to manage a smile. I don't think I did very good, but she seemed to not notice.

"Yay! You finally smiled! I was hoping you would soon!" She jumped up and squeezed me tightly. Then we began to talk about devils because I was very interested in what one would be like. She told me a lot of things that I would have never known. Afterwards, she began to hum a song called Voile, the Magic Library while I continued reading my book. The train ride was long so Koakuma fell asleep on my shoulder. She was actually very light. I looked around and saw even the loud group of youkai fell asleep as well. I did so too, so I would not be tired when I get to Voile Academy…

A sudden loud thump smashed my head into the wall and I woke up instantly. Koakuma felt it too, and she woke up and rubbed her eyes.

"Are we there yet?" she asked after letting out a loud yawn. She was interrupted when a loud voice rang out from the group of youkai.

"WOW, ONEE-SAMA! WE'RE HERE! IT'S SO COOL!" the voice came from the younger vampire of the two.

"Yes, I know Flan. Now please sit down." said the older one. Her name is Flan? Interesting. Then again it could be a nickname for the girl.

"So I guess we are here!" said Koakuma with a bright smile. She turned and peeked out of the window behind us. "Woah! It is cool!" I turned around too. It was a magnificent sight. Four giant spires rose up from the ground at each corner of the main building. The main building had 3 front entrances, one in the middle and two on the sides, and Voile Academy was etched into the doors in gold letters. The building itself was painted a brown color with a little hint of red and mountains rose high above the horizon behind it. The sun and clouds decorated the background in such a perfect way, almost as if it were like a life-like picture. It was early morning, so the train ride must have been a whole day. I looked down at the campus grounds and saw second-year youkai already going about places, talking to friends, and even just lazing about (Like the gap youkai I saw earlier). The train whistle blew, and tons of youkai piled off, one by one.

"I guess we should get going too!" Koakuma stood up, dusted off her dress, and then stuck her hand out. I grabbed her hand and she pulled me up.

"Thank you." So we got off the train last and were given a certain dorm number and a key. Koakuma and I parted ways, for her dorm was in building E and mine was in building H. It made me sad to see my new-found friend leave, but I knew I would be able to see her from time to time. I headed to my dorm with my mind clouded with thoughts, when I suddenly bumped into someone. I have a very weak body, so if I bump into somebody, naturally I'm always the one to fall down. I collected my books and got back up, to see it was the older vampire from earlier. "Oh. I'm sorry. I wasn't looking."

"It's fine. I can see why with that book you're holding. That book is on celestial beings, is it not?" she questioned me. Then I noticed a little bit more about her. She wore a light pink dress with something like a Caduceus as a necklace. A big red bow was tied around her waist and a mob cap that covered her light-blue hair completed her look. That's odd, I usually don't see such fashion around Gensokyo. But what was more noticeable was the red gleam in her eyes and the large black bat wings that jut straight out of her back.

"Yes, it is. I'm glad someone can be appreciative of books."

"I'm Remilia Scarlet, a vampire. That over there-" she pointed towards the younger vampire. "-is my younger sister. Her name is Flandre." Remilia called Flandre over. When she stopped melting frozen frogs with the loud and rowdy ice fairy, she ran right over. Her clothing was a bit different from Remilia's. She wore a red dress and vest, with a white shirt underneath. Unlike Remilia, she had blond hair that was partially tied in a ponytail off to the left. She had a large white bow tied around her waist and light pink mob cap. I looked and saw that she didn't have bat wings. Instead, it seemed like two large black metal rods, sticking out of her back with 8 multicolored prism shards hanging off of it. In Flandre's hand was a ripped up doll with fuzz coming out of it. She started jumping up and down.

"Ooh, who is this?" she asked in a playful tone. Remilia nodded towards me.

"Patchouli Knowledge." I answered.

"Oh, so it's Patchouli? Can I call you Patche? You can call me Remi." Remilia suggested. It would be rather rude to turn Remilia-Uh, Remi down, so I agreed. I'm not very good with nicknames, though.

"Okay then! So that's settled! But I guess we should be getting to our dorms. See you later, Patche!" The two disappeared into the crowd. So I kept going towards my dorm. When I got away from the main building, I found the dorms which surprised me greatly. They were all right next to each other from A-Z, like houses in a neighborhood. Even more interesting, each dorm had their own little theme. One of the dorms was checkered, while the other one was covered in flowers, and one of them looked like it was covered in blood. I had an idea of which dorm Remi and Flan were going to. I searched for H, and when I saw the dorm, I almost had a heart attack, given my already bad health conditions. My dorm was covered in what looked like….something you would see inside those light up boxes in the outside world. I think it was called computers? I hoped for maybe a plain dorm, but no. I looked at the surrounding youkai that were entering the building and they were all kappa. I sighed heavily and headed inside to find my room number. It was H18 and surprisingly empty. There were only two beds, but I thought this type of school was going to make me deal with 5 other loud people in one room while I'm trying to read. At least there is one thing that's easier to deal with. I didn't bother with unpacking and instead sat down and began to read. Soon I would have to go to the Dining Hall to hear some stuff about the academy which I didn't really care to do. A few minutes after I sat down, I heard some loud stomping outside the doors as if someone was racing. Maybe it was my roommate? The door was flung open and slammed against the wall so hard that I almost jumped out of my own skin. What figure stood before me surprised me the most. It was Koakuma.

"Ah…Patchouli?" she was just as surprised as me.

"Koakuma….aren't you supposed to be in the E dorm?"

"Well yes, but it was full so I ran from the next dorm to the next in search of an open spot. I never expected to find you here." And out of all the places, the person I had befriended not too long ago just so happened to stumble into here...

"So, that's it. Unless someone comes in late, I guess we'll be roommates."

"Well, aren't I lucky? So let's see…" Koakuma set down her bag on her bed and checked for time. "Oh no! We only have 10 minutes to get to the Dining Hall! We need to hurry!" Koakuma grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room.

"Wait, my book-" she didn't hear me. We got to the Dining Hall 5 minutes earlier than expected. "We have 5 minutes that I could have spent reading, but no, you didn't listen." I pouted.

"I'm sorry Patchouli, I really am!" said Koakuma who I could tell was satisfied at our early arrival but tried to hide it. Maybe she was an early person. I don't care either way, as long as I can read. Which I can't right now, thanks to Koakuma. Across from us, sat down the witch and the shrine maiden from earlier. They engaged in conversation.

"Hey, they put us together in the blood-covered dorm full of vampires. What's up with that, ze?" the witch started.

"I'm more irritated at the fact that I'm put in a dorm with YOU." The shrine maiden was often harsh with the witch, it seems.

"So they put all the vampires in that blood-covered dorm? Figures. That must be where Remi and Flan went." I muttered aloud.

"See that Reimu? Someone gets my logic!" Then the witch turned to me. "And yeah, those two are in the room right next to us! So, what's your name?"

"Patchouli. Patchouli Knowledge." I was meeting new people at an alarming rate, which was a good and a bad thing.

"Patchouli huh? Well I'm Marisa Kirisame! This is Reimu."

"Hey! Why did you say my name with such a bland tone!? Oh, uh sorry about that. I'm Hakurei Reimu." Hakurei? Why would the shrine maiden that maintained Gensokyo's border be here? I didn't have much time to think before the speakers at the front of the Dining Hall started blaring. Surprisingly enough, I looked up to see it was Remilia holding a microphone. What is she going to say, I wonder…

"Is this thing on? Ooh, it is. So hello everyone!" she said. "I'm Remilia Scarlet, a vampire-" She must greet everyone that way… "-and just like you, I'm new to Voile Academy as well. Since we all came here for a certain reason, I'll tell you some information I was given. Uh, let's see… oh! After we're all finished in the Dining Hall, we have specific places to go. Those in dorm A, report to the building industry." All the kappas in the room cheered at that. " Dorm A is full, so those who came for engineering, report there as well. In dorm B, report to…" She went on and on with the dorms. "…dorm E, report to the training facility." Koakuma tapped my shoulder.

"I am in dorm H, but because I was supposed to be in dorm E, I'll still be in different classes." Koakuma looked a little sad when she said it so I told her I understand and everything will be fine. So Remi continued with the announcements.

"…dorm H, go to the Magic Library…" I couldn't be happier. The library and magic in the same place? I could stay there forever. "Oh yeah, and because of the huge amount of people, anyone else who came to learn and study magic, you report to the Magic Library as well."

"Alright!" said Marisa. "The Magic Library sounds awesome!" I'm glad someone else felt that way. Remi finished the announcements, sat down, and we all began enjoying our meal.

"Hey Reimu," said Marisa with her mouth full of food. "Where are you going? You don't know magic."

"I'm going to the battle station to learn more about my powers. And don't talk with your mouth full." as Reimu and Marisa argued, I looked towards the end of the table and spotted the girl with the Grimoire. She was tending to her doll, rather than eating. I just ignored this and waited for breakfast to end. Once it did, I gathered some books back at my dorm and hurried to the library with Marisa tagging along.

"So we're magic buddies? Cool! Do you know magic yet? I do. What are you reading? Where is this magical library? Do you have a map? Why do you wear pajamas? Are they pajamas? They look like it." The questions wouldn't stop flowing from her mouth. And to put it simply, these are not pajamas! They are what you call a night gown worn in the daytime. There's a complete difference. So finally after about 5 minutes of Q&A time without the A part, we made it to the library. There were desks set up with about thousands of rows of bookshelves surrounding them. I felt like I was in heaven. I floated over to a seat and noticed I sat right down next to the girl with her doll. I don't know what in the world made me do it, but I slowly leaned over towards her and spoke.

"Hello." when I said that she seemed to have snapped out of a daze.

"Oh, Hello!" she said quickly.

"Uh, I'm Patchouli Knowledge."

"Well I'm Alice Margatroid. Nice to meet you." she smiled as if she had been practicing her whole life. But now I think I know what tempted me to speak to her. It almost felt as if the doll had a completely different presence from her.

"I really like the doll you made."

"Really? Thank you! Her name is Shanghai." Then the doll wandered over towards me and flew around my head once. "I think Shanghai might have taken a liking to you!" she giggled.

"If you don't mind telling me, how did you animate Shanghai like that?"

"Oh, sadly I haven't been able to create an autonomous doll. See, look." She lifted her hand to reveal what looked like metal rings around each of her fingers with strings. "Strings still attached. She usually follows my commands and is guided by my strings. Sometimes she can move on her own, and sometimes she acts according to my thoughts. It's like that with most of my dolls."

"I see. That's extremely impressive. I thought it was independent at first. Where did you acquire such magic?"

"Oh, this." She lifted up her book which read, Grimoire of Alice. "I've been trying to thoroughly analyze this book for some time..."

Before she could finish, two figures walked in. Everyone quieted down and when I looked up my jaw dropped. Standing in the teacher's place was the girl in green and the pink-haired girl I saw at the train stop. Why were they there!?

"Hello everyone, I'm Youmu. This is Yuyuko-sama. We'll be teaching you today." the girl in green smiled as if she knew magic. I doubt it looking at those two swords on her back. How will this work out? Oh well, At least I'm in the library. Then Marisa's hand shot up into the air.

"Hey, are you two even magicians?"

"No, we're not magicians."

"Okay, another question…. aren't you both first years?"

"Well I am, but not Yuyuko-sama."

"But you guys can just call me Yuyuko!" said Yuyuko. I was starting to think this school had gone crazy.

"But Yuyuko-sama-"

"Youmu," she whispered. "We're at the academy. Having everyone address me as Yuyuko-sama would be weird." Yuyuko then laughed and smacked Youmu hard on the back. When are we going to get to the magic part… "Okay guys! So now let's do magic! Who wants to go first? Make it pretty, like fireworks!" Obviously this ghost's head was in another dimension, more specifically Hakugyokurou, so I volunteered to give it a shot. I grabbed my book and headed to the front where Yuyuko was watching anxiously and Youmu seemed to stay on guard as if something would attack at any moment. I flipped open my book and began reciting a spell. It went surprisingly well.

"Spell card! Moon sign: Silent Selene!" A range of green bullets began to spread out from my position as blue bullets rained down from above. It was a perfect spell card to use for such an occasion.

"Ooh! Pretty! Do more!" demanded Yuyuko. I can manage another...

"Water Sign: Princess Undine!" A wall of water raged overhead followed by a thin laser of ice while small blue bullets shot out occasionally. I could tell Yuyuko was amazed by the way her eyes were sparkling. That was when I ended my Spell Card and descended down to the floor again.

"Well done!" said Yuyuko.

"Yeah, you really are something. How long have you been practicing magic, Patchouli?" Youmu asked.

"A few mont-" I burst into a coughing fit before I could finish so Youmu ordered me to rest at my desk. So from there on, I watched as other students showcased their magic skills. Alice conjured up multiple dolls that were equipped with swords, while Marisa createdshowers of stars. It was amazing sight for me. I've never been able to see other types of magic. Class ended and all the youkai stormed out of the library. I stayed behind and read up on other magic for the next days' class. I didn't get much reading done, (only about 4 books) so I headed up to the large pavilion where the students had lunch. I easily found Koakuma because she was staring off into space and I asked her if she knew about the next classes after lunch.

"Oh yes, we have PE." My heart dropped.

"PE?"

"Physical Education."

"...PE..." I'm sure Koakuma felt a dark aura around me so she quickly changed the subject.

"Uh, next is the sparring matches! Then the Dining Hall, and finally the dorms where you are free to do whatever you want until the next day! Ehehe…" Koakuma obviously tried her best to cheer me up, but sparring matches depressed me even further.

"Sigh….I guess I'll just bring a book with me to PE."

"Uh, sure! I wonder what we're going to do at PE…"

"Basketball!" Remi was right behind us. "Such a competitive sport! I love competitions! It's what gives me the title of the Scarlet Devil!" she sat down and was accompanied by the silver-haired human. "Haha, no, just kidding. That's a whole other story."

"Uh, Remilia…" whispered the human.

"Patche, this is Sakuya! Knife-throwing expert!" Remilia explained.

"Izayoi Sakuya. Nice to meet you." she bowed deeply.

"I'm Patchouli Knowledge." Then I noticed Koakuma who looked confused. "And this is Koakuma."

"N-nice to meet you." she stammered.

"So you're that Devil in my class?" asked Remi. "I like your fighting techniques. Very unsuspecting for someone like you." I'm not sure if Remi's last sentence was a compliment, but they both smiled. Then Remi glanced at the clock. "The time…we better get going! It's best to get there early! See you later!" Remi left with Sakuya following behind.

"I swear… it's like Sakuya is Remi's personal maid that follows her everywhere…." I muttered a little too loud.

"I guess you could put it that way, huh? Should we get going too?" asked Koakuma. I agreed and grabbed my books and headed to…PE. When we got there, Flan greeted us and told us that Remi left a message that said to change and then meet her on the second court. We have to change? I received some PE clothes which were rather…revealing. It was absolutely horrifying. Koakuma put her clothes on as if this wasn't embarrassing enough and then looked over at me.

"Patchouli, you have such pale skin."

"Eh? What's that supposed to mean?" Then she started giggling.

"Oh, nothing." Was it just me or did I spot an evil grin on that Devil's face? I hope not. I then uneasily followed Koakuma to the second basketball court…outside. I do wish it was inside. My skin was burning.

"Hey Patche! Glad you could make it! The game is going start any minute now!" Why wasn't Remi being affected by this? She's a vampire! Remi then called over the others on the court. They were Flan, Sakuya, and an orange-haired girl who wore a traditional Chinese dress and green beret. "This is Meiling!"

"Hiya, my name is Hong Meiling! Nice to meet you!" she smiled.

"I'm Patchouli Knowledge."

"And I'm Koakuma!"

"Okay, now that you're introduced, let's get the game started!" Remilia led everyone to the center of the court while I inched over to the end and pulled out a book. I sat down and began to read, but no one seemed to notice. Maybe PE will be enjoyable after all. Although I was immersed in my book, my eyes also watched the game they were playing. I think it was called…basketball? Remi began to bounce the ball and run across the court at an amazing speed but Flan caught up with her. They must have been on different teams. Flan tried to grab the ball but Remi threw it to Sakuya who jumped over Meiling's head. Meiling landed face first in the ground but Koakuma sneakily came up behind Sakuya and tried to grab the ball. She knocked it out of Sakuya's hand and it went flying…towards me. I knew the best thing to do was to set if off course using wind magic so it wouldn't damage my books, but my magic seemed like it was canceled again somehow. I did my best to cover my books, and the ball smashed right into my face. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, but the inside of my head was ringing like a bell for a while. Koakuma picked up the ball, made sure I was okay, and then resumed the game. A while in, things started to get intense. The court was no longer being used. Everyone was flying in the air, making it a faster game and even harder to track.

"Taboo: Four of a Kind!" Flan summoned a Spell Card that created 3 clones of herself. Was that allowed in games originated in the outside world? But it did help them gain the upper hand. Two dealt with Sakuya and two blocked Remi. Remi slashed through one of them which was fake, and then raced over to Sakuya and slashed the other two. She must have dealt with this many times before. Then they went back and forth casting spell cards and leaving everyone else out. It turned into the Scarlet Sisters Showdown. I got in quite a few rounds of ball-dodging practice thanks to those two before they finally settled down.

"Okay Flan, who won?" asked Remi. The two were almost completely worn out.

"I think you did, onee-sama."

"What? No, I think you won. 43-36 right?" I did want to cut in and say that Remi won, and the actual score was 56-43, but I decided to stay quiet.

"R-really!? YAY~!" Flan immediately regained all of her energy. "I won against onee-sama! I won! YAY!" I then walked up to Remi.

"You're a nice person, aren't you?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You know you won. 56-43."

"Yeah, I did. But she looks so happy, why ruin the fun?" Remi is actually a good-hearted vampire. I've only read about vicious, bloodthirsty ones who attack humans. I guess I have a lot to learn. So with that, PE ended and next was…sparring matches. Who will I be put up against…and will all the students be watching us battle? Everyone had to attend so I followed Remi there. When we arrived, it was set up…like some type of coliseum. We grabbed seats at the very top and waited for all the youkai to storm in. Once they did, three people went to the center stage. Our teachers? I looked down and saw it was the gap youkai, kitsune, and nekomata. How can I be surprised after seeing Youmu and Yuyuko?

"Hello everyone." that was the kitsune speaking. "I'm Ran-" she then pointed to the youkai. "-this is my master Yukari-" then she finally pointed to the nekomata, "-and this is Chen. We'll be starting off sparring today. Yukari? The list…"

"Huh…what? Oh yeah, that thing…" Yukari disappeared into her gap and then brought out a piece of paper. "Hey everyone, this list says who is going to spar in what order. When its your turn, come down here and wait for Chen to say go." she explained drowsily.

"I get to say go? Yay!" Chen jumped up and down.

"One more thing. Don't kill anyone. So first up is, Koakuma and Alice Margatroid."

"Ooh, that's me. I'll show you my skills during this battle, Patchouli!" Koakuma hurried down to the bottom along with Alice. Alice spotted me and smiled while Koakuma put on a ridiculous grin. Then they both got into ready position. Alice with her Grimoire in hand and Koakuma with her claws sharpened. I am rather interested in the turnout of this battle.

"GO~!" Chen bellowed. Her voice was louder than I expected. Alice flipped open her book and started off the battle.

"Blue Sign: Benevolent French Dolls!" Several dolls surrounded Alice and then began to shoot out fire bullets. Koakuma rushed towards Alice, but had to stop abruptly because the fire bullets went in zigzag directions once they traveled far enough. She found a quiet spot and moved in on the right, while quickly blocking a doll that was sent out of the circle. She got close enough and jumped over the huge fireballs being released and struck hard with her claws. Alice did her best to dodge, but still got a slight cut on her arm. Koakuma must like close combat, because she then began to deliver barrages of flying blows. Alice was not only very skilled in controlling dolls but also fast. She was dodging all of the attacks when I noticed she flinched as if her head hurt and suddenly one deep gash on her cheek appeared. One of the dolls advanced in on Koakuma, ended her long attack altogether. Alice then began to chant another spell when she noticed Koakuma. Her figure was dissipating quickly. Alice whipped around but Koakuma already won. She delivered one bow to the head and Alice hit the ground. All of the youkai in the crowd were silent at first but then began to cheer.

"Okay guys, settle down. Koakuma won against Alice. Good job, you two." Alice sat up in disappointment while Shanghai comforted her. I couldn't hear the two over the youkai cheering, but Koakuma gave Alice her hand and helped her up. The two spoke, and then quickly headed to where I was sitting. Luckily, there was an extra seat.

"Both of you did amazing. Good job." I complimented.

"Hehe, thanks, but Koakuma did much better." Alice smiled as if she had faced defeat plenty of times before. Well, at least she wasn't depressed about it.

"No, Alice! You did amazing as well! You have very crafty ways of using your dolls. And you're fast!" Koakuma argued. The two sat down, and Koakuma began to patch up Alice's arm from the battle earlier. She is very useful, for a devil. I'm not even sure where she obtained those items. Alice took one last look at her bandaged arm and turned to Koakuma.

"Thank you so much! You're both very kind." From down below, Yukari was getting aggravated.

"How many times do I have to tell you guys to quiet down? Chen…" Chen grabbed a megaphone.

"SHUUUUT UP! NYAAAAN~!" All of the youkai quieted down and Ran patted Chen on the head.

"Ok guys, next is…. Hong Meiling and Marisa Kirisame."

"AWESOME! I'M GONNA WIN THIS, ZE!" I swear, Marisa doesn't even need a megaphone to get all of the youkai to hear her. She jumped down to the center stage and Meiling walked down, like any normal being would. Koakuma tapped my shoulder again.

"Patchouli, Meiling uses close combat like I do. She's a worthy rival. I can't wait to see her technique!" Hopefully Koakuma wouldn't turn into one of those commentators.

"Are you two set?" asked Yukari. They both nodded. "Your turn, Chen."

"GO~!" Marisa immediately flew up into the air as if the ground was lava. Meiling followed and gave Marisa a long, hard stare. I wonder what she's up to. She looks pretty serious. Suddenly instead of just Meiling, there were 9 more. They must have been illusionary clones, from the way each one was fading in and out. They all moved at once, but came in all directions and attacked in different ways. Experience is needed to single out each clone's attack. I'm not sure how Marisa could dodge something like that, but she didn't. Instead, she let out a huge burst of star magic and let it fly in any which way. She did vanquish the clones, but the idea was reckless. Wait, am I turning into a commentator? Meiling pulled off a similar technique to Koakuma's by attacking from behind. Marisa noticed in time and turned around and held out a small octagon-shaped box.

"Love Sign: Master Spark!" Out of the little box came a huge yellow laser beam. Meiling made it out in time, but still was dealt some damage. Her green beret was smoking and her clothes were a bit tattered. Marisa shot out a ring of curving star magic and Meiling advanced on her, dodging it. When she got close enough to land a punch, Marisa readied herself to counter it, but Meilling shot out red bullets at a surprisingly fast speed. Marisa dodged those and then Meiling gave her a hard kick in the ribs while she was off guard, throwing her off her broom. Marisa hit the ground, unable to move and her broom fell on top of her. I thought someone like her would be able to endure a kick like that. But I guess it would be too much for a human to stand anyway.

"Oww… you got me, ze." Marisa stood up slowly with her broom in hand. "Good one! Let's battle again!" She shook Meiling's hand and flew up to her spot. The youkai quickly began cheering and Meiling, whose personality seemed to revert back to normal, climbed the staircase to her seat. I knew that wasn't the limit to her ability. For such a laid-back person, she could be very serious in real battle.

"Ok, Meiling won. Good job." said Yukari. The youkai quickly quieted down, knowing if they didn't they would have to face Chen's loud shouting. "Next, is Cirno and Wriggle Nightbug." Cirno was the ice fairy who wouldn't stop saying she was the strongest and Wriggle was a firefly youkai. I learned many other names as well. Nitori was the name of the kappa who kept building things and Suwako was the name of a girl who sported a hat with bug eyes and her dress was decorated with frogs. The battles went on and on until I heard Remi's name. She was facing off against Sakuya. Hopefully it wasn't Flan or else the two would have destroyed the whole coliseum. Remi won the battle, although Sakuya was pretty impressive. Though I still wasn't able to track the significance of that stopwatch Sakuya has in her hand. Flan went up against Yuyuko and Flan seemed to have won. She said she wanted to play again someday. My battle will never come it seems, and I really hope it doesn't.

"Next is Hakurei Reimu and Patchouli Knowledge!" I spoke too soon.

"I can't wait to watch. Good luck out there, Patchouli!" whispered Koakuma. I hesitantly made my way to the center stage. Reimu has a pretty serious look on her face, so I guess I'll try to fight back, a little. I don't want to disappoint her. I nervously waited for Chen to give the signal.

"We meet again, Patchouli." snickered Reimu.

"What, is that some kind of cheesy fight scene line?" I asked. But really, it did sound like that.

"GO~!" The battle began. I hope I can dodge her attacks. Most of the youkai in previous battles were much faster than I am. Wait, how fast she can fire bullets?

"Divine Spirit: Fantasy Seal! -Blink-" She started off rather quick. And what's blink? She disappeared from view and the reappeared, racing across the center stage in any direction. Wow, she's faster than all the other youkai I've seen spar. Each time she raced past me, she left a trail of white amulets which seemed frozen, almost. Her speed caused her to place at least 100 in the blink of an eye. Now the name of the move makes sense. I got ready to launch a move when I saw all the amulets turn red. Then they began to move. Wait, they're headed towards me? I quickly dodged a group of them, but just by barely. Homing amulets! Although Reimu placed more than enough amulets for me to deal with, she planted more and more as time went on. It was a pain to dodge all of them, and I had to stop the attack so I could display some of my power to Koakuma. I waited until Reimu reached the center stage once again and then shot a fire bullet off to the right, causing her to run into it. The spell card was successfully cancelled, so I made my move. I quickly pulled out my book and began to recite the spell.

"Fire Sign: Agni Shine!" Multiple mid-sized fireballs shot out in a circular wave, spinning like a whirlwind. I interlocked the fireballs, creating an unstoppable ring of fire. She blasted a hole through and quickly advanced towards me, so I closed the fire in and escaped leaving Reimu trapped. My trap worked and Reimu started falling out of the air but quickly regained her balance. She patted out the fire on her sleeves and I got ready to attack once again. I'm out of breath… battling Reimu takes speed and agility which I don't have either of. But I must go on.

"Fire and Earth Sign: Lava Cromlech!" Combining elements takes more power. Fireballs were sent out in close zigzag lines which were supported by a wave of rocks. I can't do much more… Reimu was about to deal the final blow. She summoned a barrage of Yin-Yang orbs and I thought I could maybe redirect them with wind magic. I began to raise my arm but I couldn't feel any of my power being focused into my palm. The orbs landed a direct hit and I was thrown to the ground. I was rather beaten up and aching all over. The crowd started to cheer as usual. Reimu quickly returned to her seat and I picked myself up and collected my book. Some pages must have gotten torn. Curses. I then returned to my seat as well.

"Reimu won against Patchouli. Nice work out there, to both of you." said Yukari. Koakuma and Alice turned to me as I sat down.

"Good job, Patchouli!" said Koakuma. "You did amazing!"

"Oh, thanks. But I lost." Which, I am completely fine with.

"Even so, you're quite skilled!" Alice added in.

"You could say that…" so then I began to read my book and tune out all other gibberish from the stage and surrounding youkai. When I looked up, I saw not a single person in sight. "The matches are over?" And how long had I been reading!?

"Yeah, they were done a while ago." The voice was Reimu who I didn't notice standing next to me. "No one else seemed to see you not move an inch when the period ended, so I stayed here afterwards."

"Really? Well, thanks for that. I probably would have been here until dawn." I looked around once more. "So, what's the next period?"

"Uh, there is no next class. We go to the Dining Hall." The first time I was excited about something. It wasn't the fact that I got to eat, but it was the fact that didn't include any physical activity, which meant more time for books. So we slowly made our way to the Dining Hall. When we entered everyone else was already seated so it became very awkward as a million eyes fell upon us two. We inched over to our seats slowly and sat down. Someone went up to the stage once again but this time it was Flan.

"Oi! It's on? Cool! Hello! I'm Flandre! And I'm here to congratulate you all on the matches that went on earlier today! Maybe we can all play together one day!" The shards on her wings seemed glow brighter. "Especially the magicians! Colorful patterns makes it all the more fun!" She glanced over at me and I wish she hadn't. All eyes followed her and landed on me. "Well anyway, LETS ENJOY DINNER~!" She jumped off the stage and raced over to her table right next to Remi and Sakuya.

"Let's eat, shall we?" asked Koakuma, who acted like I wasn't missing for a few minutes. I nodded my head in agreement and saw the huge amount of food before me. I was never used to regular-sized portions of food, so I just settled with a piece of fruit.

"Patchouli," said Reimu. "I have to admit, you do have some skill. I would have never thought of closing in that ring of fire to trap the enemy."

I frowned. "It wasn't very advanced. Not even close to intermediate, if you ask me."

"Not very good at taking compliments, are you?" She's right. I was never very good at that. Mainly because I was never spoken to anyway.

"I guess not."

"But you did say you're a beginner in magic, right?" I nodded. "So it's only fair that you get some praise for your work. I thought combining elements came at an intermediate level." Right again. I worked very hard before school started. It came with a lot of pain, but it did work out in the end. Sadly, I still haven't gotten even a little bit close to the ultimate magic... the philosopher's stone. An ancient concentration of magic in the form of five levitating stones. Each stone represents an-

"Um, so Reimu, what do you do for your individual class?" Hey, she interrupted my thought!

"Me? Oh, being a shrine maiden I mostly try to balance the power of the Yin-Yang orbs and stay spiritually connected with other places outside of Gensokyo." Yeah, she's good at balancing the power of those orbs, all right. I got an equal serving of both red and white during our earlier battle.

"So, you can connect to places like the outside world? That's so cool!"

"Precisely. In fact, the outside world is the origin of that game played in PE earlier, basketball."

"Woah! Really?" I wonder what else she knows.

"Reimu, what kind of books do they have in the outside world?" I asked.

"Well, since all the youkai in the outside world have mostly been exterminated, they do have an interesting genre of books called fantasy. They call witches and youkai fictional."

"Such nonsense! There are all kinds of witches lurking around Gensokyo!"

"And that's what I said. I encounter witches daily, including that hyperactive idiot, Marisa."

"Is Marisa really that horrid of a person?" Koakuma questioned. "You talk about her like she's some type of bandit."

"You can say that. She's a tiresome type of thief. I'll return later, she always says. I wouldn't dare let her near my donation box. And especially her Master Spark." Reimu told Koakuma more about Marisa while I looked around the Dining Hall. No sign of Alice? Where could she be? I looked over at her usual spot on the far end of the table. She's not there either. How mysterious…suddenly I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. I almost dropped my book. Who let the ice fairy in!? I turned behind me.

"H-Hi Patchouli…..c-cold." behind me was Alice's shivering figure. She sat down next to me and felt just as cold as her. I warmed her up a bit by placing my hand on her shoulder and using a bit of fire magic, but not enough to burn her. "Thanks…you're so n-nice." Her teeth were chattering loudly.

"What happened?"

"Ah, my teeth stopped chattering." she turned to me and smiled. "Oh, what happened? You see, after the matches ended, I decided to go on ahead and leave you with Koakuma. Once I did, I spotted a girl with a bug-eyed hat chasing around another girl with a blue dress. She was screaming something about disrespecting frogs. I wanted to stop the commotion so I blocked the blue-dressed girl and asked what was the problem. She then said, 'You're in the way, toy shop owner!' and then transformed me into a popsicle! It's a good thing I modified Shanghai with fire magic, or else I would have been stuck there forever. Even then I was still cold!"

"That blue-dressed girl must have been that ice fairy, Cirno. I remember her battle, along with everyone else's battle before mine."

"Cirno, eh? Well she was rather rude, freezing me up like that. And I'm not a toy shop owner, I'm a puppeteer!" She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Oh?" She looked up. "Dinner Hall is ending." Youkai began piling out of the doors. Now I can finally get back to dorm H and my books.

"Alice, what dorm do you live in?" I asked.

"Uh, dorm C. How about you?"

"Dorm H." We both stood up.

"Well, looks like this is where we'll be departing."

"It seems so."

"See you later. Bye!" And with that Alice and Reimu headed their separate ways. I turned to Koakuma.

"Oh, so shall we go…Patchouli?"

"Sure." If I forgot to mention, in order to get to the dorms from the main building, there is a required gate to pass through. Koakuma seemed to have spotted someone by the gate and walked over. I followed behind her.

"Hello!" greeted Koakuma.

"Oh, Koakuma! Heya!" It was Meiling.

"So what are you doing standing by the gate?"

"I have Night Duty by the gates-" she punched and kicked at the air several times. "-to make sure no one gets in without my consent!"

"Well what about all the youkai flooding in right now?" I questioned. "Who knows? The enemy could have snuck into the crowd." We let Meiling process the statement while we entered the gates. We got to our rooms in dorm H and I sat on my bed comfortably.

"Today was tiresome, but I'm not sleepy because I had passed out before." I muttered. Koakuma gave a long yawn. No doubt she was tired from watching me all day.

"I'm sorry, but I'm actually very sleepy. If you don't mind..."

"I'm not gonna try to keep you up all night. Go ahead and rest."

"Oh, okay. Good night, Patchouli." Koakuma turned over in her bed and immediately fell asleep. I flipped open my book when I heard a loud bang cut through the night's silence. I saw the door almost fly off of its hinges and before I knew it, both Koakuma and I were dumped onto the lawn right outside the dorms.

"What the-" My mouth was covered by someone's hands. They must have been very jumpy. I looked up and I saw it was Marisa. I pushed her off and glared at her very quickly.

"Marisa, what in the world do you think you're doing?" I whispered.

"Come along, ze!" Marisa yanked my arm so I grabbed at anything else in sight which was Koakuma. I forgot how incredibly light she was, so she came right along with me. Amazing how she is still asleep. We were headed towards the blood-covered dorm Marisa stayed in and I knew there was no chance of us living. We were headed full-speed straight towards the door and it didn't look like anyone was going to open it anytime soon. I closed my eyes and a second later I found myself dumped onto the ground once again.

"Zzz…" Koakuma is still asleep? I groaned and looked up to find Reimu was sitting there, along with Remi and Flan.

"What's gotten you so shaken up?" laughed Remi.

"Shut it." I snapped. "I just got snatched out of my room, thrown outside, and then snatched up again and dumped here. Why do you think I'm shaken up? "

"And all of happened because of Marisa." sighed Reimu. A few seconds later, we heard a few more loud bangs and a pile of people thrown onto the ground. In the jumble was: Alice, Sakuya, Meiling, and Chen. We all stared at Chen for a second, and then Marisa returned her to wherever she was. Hopefully no one noticed her disappearance.

"I'm back!" said Marisa 3 seconds after she left. I certainly didn't miss her. "Ok! Since this is our first night here at Voile, let's party!" The room was silent for quite a while.

"You're…kidding me, right?" I interjected.

"NOPE!"

"Ok, ok I get it! Quiet down before the sleeping students come kill us!" said Reimu.

"Can't I get a break..?" asked Alice. "I was really looking forward in sleeping my warm bed, you know…" She must have still been cold.

"I'm still on night duty….but I don't mind hanging around!" Meiling looked like she was dying to get away from the gate outside. What kind of guard is she? A pretty useless one, I assume.

"Uh..." Sakuya pulled out her old stopwatch. "I don't know about this… but I guess I don't have to sleep in this world…" What did she mean by that?

"So does that mean we can all play!?" asked Flan, completely ignoring everyone's refusal. Marisa nodded and Flan tackled her, swinging around her neck and laughing. She was lucky she didn't break Marisa's neck entirely. Koakuma finally awakened and questioned me about the huge bump on her head from Marisa's little drop-off. I told her it was nothing and the others slowly agreed to stay. So then we started off by playing a game of paper danmaku. If I tried to cast as many spell cards as I did in that game, I would've surely passed out. Remi suggested charades, and did a horrible impression of the oarfish that kept pestering others with her lightning rod abilities. Ah, I know now. That was Iku Nagae, the messenger of the dragon palace. Then I came up with a great idea.

"Hey Marisa," I asked while Flan was acting out Chen.

"Hmm? What is it, Patchouli?"

"While reading a book, I heard of a game in the outside world that you might like. It deals with overpowering moves. Call it an RPG, if you must." I know Marisa has a weak spot for power. If it has power, it has her name on it.

"Oh really? Show me it!" she pleaded.

"Well I'll make my move first. What you do is grab a rope..." I snatched one out of Koakuma's pocket while she wasn't looking. "Then you do this..." I tied her hands behind her back.

"Uh... what are you doing?" she nervously asked.

"Here... I made my move. Let's say that now since you can't move, I get to move again."

"Ah, okay. So after a few turns I'll be able to move, right?"

"Yeah, sure." I promised. Every 'turn' I took, I would bind her legs and so on.. until she couldn't move. "Here." The final touch was a piece of tape over her mouth.

"Mmm! Brgh raah mm!"

"Sorry, but you lost. Maybe you should have went first, huh?" I chuckled. So then I turned around and watched the game of charades as Marisa struggled to get free. Once she did, she was too tired to shout at me. But I didn't really see the problem. I only did justice for everyone else. Lastly, we entertained Flan by telling her stories which lured everyone to sleep after some time. When I woke up the next morning, Koakuma turned over to reveal her decorated face, which was courtesy of both Remi and Flan. I laughed a little, thinking that this might be a rather interesting way to spend my year here at Voile.

* * *

**So yeah, that's it for the beginning. Afterwards, I'm going to branch it off into a series of arcs for certain characters or events told by different characters. I'm going to try to make sure I do one for each character that I actually know about a little bit.**


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